{"id":33608,"date":"2022-06-07T10:30:14","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T15:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=33608"},"modified":"2022-06-07T10:51:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T15:51:49","slug":"steve-cochran-joins-wls-890-morning-host","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2022\/06\/07\/steve-cochran-joins-wls-890-morning-host\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Cochran joins WLS 890 AM as morning host"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Steve Cochran<\/p><\/div>\n

Ten years ago this fall the legendary Don Wade stepped down as morning star at WLS 890-AM<\/a> as he battled the brain cancer that eventually would take his life.<\/a> With him and his wife\/on-air partner, Roma Wade, went the last successful morning show at the heritage news\/talk station.<\/p>\n

Now, with the station\u2019s ratings at a historic low, Cumulus Media is turning to longtime Chicago radio personality Steve Cochran to bring back listeners.<\/p>\n

Cochran, 61, former morning host at Nexstar Media news\/talk WGN 720-AM, signed Tuesday to host mornings at WLS. Starting June 15, he'll be heard from 5:30 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday.<\/p>\n

\"\"

WLS 890 AM<\/p><\/div>\n

\"I'm delighted to welcome Steve to our team, where I know he will bring his wisdom, wit and political prowess to morning drive,\" Stephanie Tichenor, program director of WLS, said in an email to staff.<\/p>\n

\"Our listeners need a place to feel safe to express their opinions while having a destination for entertainment, news, and conservative conversation. Steve will provide that for our Chicagoland audience.\"<\/p>\n

The morning slot has been open since early April when the station dropped<\/a> Bruce St. James. Besides Cochran, others who filled in during the interim included Ramblin\u2019 Ray Stevens, Pete McMurray and Matt Bubala.<\/p>\n

\"When I filled in, I realized how much I missed it so I'm thrilled to be back,\" Cochran told me.<\/p>\n

Why now? \"To be fair, WLS has never had the opportunity to fire me,\" he said. \"Those great call letters deserve a great Chicago show, which I'm going to try to do every morning.\"<\/p>\n

Except for a one-year stint in Detroit in the late \u201990s, Cochran has been a Chicago radio fixture since 1993. His longest runs were two stints at WGN, including six years as morning host ending in 2019 when his contract was not renewed.<\/p>\n

\"I've been talking to myself for two and a half years, so I can't wait to start talking on WLS,\" he said.<\/p>\n

Cochran said he will continue to host the twice-weekly podcast \u201cLive From My Office\u201d on Mondays and Wednesdays, and \"The Deep 6 with Patty Steele\" on Fridays.<\/p>\n

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, WLS tied for 28th in mornings with a 0.8 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 88,800. Overall the station ranks 27th with a 1.1 share and 200,500 weekly cume.<\/p>\n

Here is the text of Tichenor's email to staff:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good Morning,<\/em><\/p>\n

I am pleased to announce that Steve Cochran will be the new AM drive host on 890 WLS-AM.<\/em><\/p>\n

Steve is a proven winner in Chicago radio that will bring his talent and deep Chicago roots to \u201cThe Steve Cochran Show,\u201d that will air weekdays from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. beginning Wednesday, June 15, 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n

I'm delighted to welcome Steve to our team, where I know he will bring his wisdom, wit, and political prowess to morning drive. Our listeners need a place to feel safe to express their opinions while having a destination for entertainment, news, and conservative conversation. Steve will provide that for our Chicagoland audience. I'm looking forward to growing 890 with Steve Cochran in morning drive.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please join me in welcoming Steve Cochran to the Big 89.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you,<\/em><\/p>\n

Steph<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago this fall the legendary Don Wade stepped down as morning star at WLS 890-AM as he battled the brain cancer that eventually would take his life. With him and his wife\/on-air partner, Roma Wade, went the last successful morning show at the heritage news\/talk station. Now, with the station\u2019s ratings at a... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33608"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33618,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33608\/revisions\/33618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}